Thursday, October 18, 2012

The time had come for another songwriter workshop and I was psyched. Ron and I had managed to make scratch recordings of our four most recent songs just days before. The ink was barely dry on the last one. The conundrum: would I choose to shop the tune I was most proud of, or one I knew still had some problems?

I really wanted people to hear the song I was most proud of. It would have the best chance of impressing them. Maybe I'd get the coveted (mythical) comment, "You don't need to change a thing." But, of course, the problematic song was the one I needed help with.

In the end I went with the problematic song. I'm happy I did. The feedback I received helped me tear down the corner I'd painted myself into. I wrote a few alternative endings, and while I eventually narrowed them down to one, all of them were better than what I had.

The problematic song was the right choice.

I still want my fellow songwriters to hear the most-proud-of song, though. Maybe next time ...